Lost in Walmart...
Yesterday, I had to stop at Walmart on my way home from work...I was getting ready to check out, and saw a little girl about 4 or 5, and she was starting to cry and looked panicked. I asked her if she had lost her mother, and she was sobbing and saying her mommy was just there a minute ago, etc. I told her that the lady up front could call her mommy on the loudspeaker, and to come with me. She trustingly reached up and held my cart handle and I walked her over to a cashier and told her the little girl had lost her mother. As a Walmart employee was walking off with her to page her mother on the loudspeaker, her father came running up to get her.
This incident might seem innocuous enough, but it really bothered me. I realized how vulnerable little children are when they don't have their parents there to protect them. I thought of how scary it would be if one of my little girls got lost, trusted a stranger to help them, and ended up getting hurt by that person. I wondered what to tell my kids about who you can and cannot trust when they get lost in a store. My heart also went out to all of the poor little children that are kidnapped by strangers and sexually abused. If a child can be that terrified by losing her mother for about 2 minutes in a store, imagine how much worse it is when that child is forcibly stolen and abused. I don't know how human beings can do those types of things to innocent, trusting children. :(
This incident might seem innocuous enough, but it really bothered me. I realized how vulnerable little children are when they don't have their parents there to protect them. I thought of how scary it would be if one of my little girls got lost, trusted a stranger to help them, and ended up getting hurt by that person. I wondered what to tell my kids about who you can and cannot trust when they get lost in a store. My heart also went out to all of the poor little children that are kidnapped by strangers and sexually abused. If a child can be that terrified by losing her mother for about 2 minutes in a store, imagine how much worse it is when that child is forcibly stolen and abused. I don't know how human beings can do those types of things to innocent, trusting children. :(
posted by PsychDoctor at
5:07 PM
5 Comments:
I lost my youngest in a clothing store last summer. We were shopping for school clothes for the two older kids and he thought it was fun to run and hide in underneath the clothes racks. I saw him take off running out of the corner of my eye, I turned to tell my son that I had to chase him, and by the time I turned around he was nowhere to be found. Luckily a store employee saw us looking for him, found him and brought him back to us. It's a scary, scary feeling because you just never know.
Had an interesting experience at Wallmart that you would enjoy. Our rule is we don't ask "just anyone for help". If you get lost you go to a store clerk (making sure first that all the kids know what clerks look like) and ask them to page their mom. If they can't find a clerk then to ask a women to help them find a store clerk. (statistically safer than a man) However, if someone tries to help them by taking them to the bathroom, out of the store ect. to scream your not my mom and run to someone else.
My 4 year old got lost last week and as I was frantically searching for her and moving to the front of the store I heard her scream "your not my mom". Just then I rounded the corner to see her running away from a store clerk that was taking her to the front by going close to the front door. Later she said she knew she wasn't suppose to go out with anyone (I don't think I thought about a store clerk taking her out - but thankfully she did and knew what to do). I, like you would help any lost child - but I would never be offended if a child ran away from me because she felt scared or in danger. Thankfully, neither did the store clerk and we will enjoy many more shopping trips there.
Isn't that a terrifying feeling? My wife lost our 4-year-old last year in Ventura California for several minutes. Luckily a woman found her and a police officer also was on the scene. She was one scare little girl though, and she still talks about that. I will have to talk to her about what to do in the store if she gets separated.
Yet another reason not to shop at WalMart... :)
She was a scared little girl, and I was a terrified mother that held back the tears as I knew they would blind me!!
The cop asked me how it happened, I told him to look around...I am not a mother, I am a sheepherder. Everyone else thought that she was with someone else.
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